News of the suspended Loveland second-grader goes viral

The news was talked about by Rush Limbaugh and even made it to international outlets

By Jessica Maher Reporter-Herald Staff Writer

Posted:
02/06/2013 05:53:58 PM MST

Updated:
02/06/2013 05:54:07 PM MST

Following national reaction to a story that came out of a Loveland elementary school, Thompson School District spokesman Mike Hausmann said that the police have not yet been contacted about potential threats but may be in the future.

Hausmann said that media outlets and calls from outraged people across the country has been disruptive to both the district and to Mary Blair Elementary School, which is under fire for the reported suspension of a second grade student for throwing an imaginary grenade at an imaginary box of evil.

It's a portrayal that Hausmann also said is not accurate.

"Overwhelmingly, the majority of feedback we're getting is from people who do not live in this district and do not even live in this state," Hausmann said. "It's not people from the community by and large."

Mary Blair Elementary School's website was removed on Wednesday after at least one person, a man from Atlanta, emailed principal Valerie Lara-Black and included photographs from the school's website that he felt broke the school's proclaimed "absolutes policy," which outlines no real or play weapons are tolerated.

"Your policies are so incredibly inconsistent that you actually reproduce and praise the very behaviors on your website that you punish on the playground," the email states.

The man also included a picture of a gun in the email, writing:"Your computer's probably connected to a server owned by the school district. Yes, there are multiple records of your crime. I recommend that you resign immediately." Hausmann was unsure when the website would return.

The suspended 7-year-old, Alex Evans, and his mother Mandie Watkins, have also been attracting national and even international attention. Rush Limbaugh discussed the incident on his radio show and the story is making its rounds on major networks and in major newspapers.

Needless to say, Watkins' phone has been ringing incessantly.

"In some ways it's good because I want people to understand that this is an issue not just here," she said.

She's in talks for some major interviews, but Watkins said she would be limiting her family's exposure thereafter.

"There's a point at which it becomes not about the real issue anymore and I don't want that to happen," she said.

Others have also reached out in support, including the Air Force Academy, who have extended an invitation for Alex to visit and meet those who fight evil the way that Alex says he pretended to at school.